With 32 Studio Quality Algorithms onboard - the Empress Reverb is about the most capable High Fidelity Reverb Workstation you can get your hands on
My history with Empress Effects goes back to 2017 to the launch of the EchoSystem which was my very first Empress pedal, while the Reverb had been launched a year earlier. I had had a very long hiatus from all Guitar-related affairs, and only really got back into it in the wake of the passing of two of my ultimate music heroes - first Bowie at the start of the year 2016, and then Prince also by April.
At that juncture I had been a DJ for the best part of 20 years, and was heavily considering going down the Beats / Ableton Live route before the passing of my musical heroes inspired me to take up guitar again instead. At the start of that journey, like many I first invested in the so-called Strymon Stryfecta of BigSky, Mobius and TimeLine - but was totally awed by the EchoSystem when that came around in 2017 - and that then became my mainstay Delay Workstation pedal, and remains my favourite of that type to this day even though I chop and change the pedal-chain a lot - since I must in the service of this blog!
So I had missed the Reverb launch a year earlier, where the Empress Reverb launched with 24 Algorirthms onboard - where we’re now up to 32, and have an additional excellent secret weapon 10-minute Multitrack Looper onboard too - while I have a very significant one of those in the chain now - courtesy of the Boss RC-600, so that feature however impressive it is - is somewhat surplus to my own situation.
For me the Empress EchoSystem came first - and then in no time at all there were 3 Empress Pedals in the chain - with the Multidrive and Heavy also featuring - heavily! As for the Empress Reverb - I was sort of hoping that Steve Bragg and co would update that to be more like the EchoSystem - with its dual-channel series / paralallel playback of two algorithms at once! I had not spoken to Steve until fairly recently actually - when he indicated that such a change was unlikely - as after all the Empress Reverb had taken 5 years to develop in its lead-up to its 2016 launch. So now what it was 6 years old - and at the peak of its prowess it made sense to bring that into the chain. It remains my longest running wishlist item - where it’s been since I acquired the EchoSystem all the way back in 2017.
In the interim - 8 Reverb Workstation have been added to the reference collection - in order - Strymon BigSky, Boss RV-500, Source Audio Ventris, Eventide H9 Max, Electro-Harmonix Oceans 12, Strymon NightSky, Neunaber Illumine, and Amplitube X-Space. Thus the Empress Reverb is my 9th in that category with the Eventide H90 likely the 10th - while that will be taking over from the H9 slot - so a straight swap there and will not impact on the viability of the Empress Reverb - which will likely remain my genre favourite!
Intuitive Hands-on Control
Click Image to Enlarge!
What makes the EchoSystem and Reverb such superb propositions is that for all the core functions and parameters there is no menu-diving or sub-routines - all the parameters are immediately accessible courtesy of 8 handy knobs. Where you have the added benefit of saving those to no less than 35 Presets.
Controls : Mode / Algorithm, Decay, Mix, Output, Low, Hi, Thing 1, Thing 2, Select Footswitch, Save Button, Scroll Footswitch (Presets), Bypass / On Footswitch.
I've always had the unwritten rule that a workstation type pedal should have as many Preset slots at least as it has algorithms - for all the algorithms should be brilliant and brilliantly usable - and you should want at the very least - to have your preferred settings presets for each!
So the control-interface is beautifully intuitive and immediately / instant hands-on - so you can tweak the output in the quickest and easiest way. The only niggle - as I also mentioned for the EchoSystem - is having to remember all the different Thing 1 and Thing 2 Parameter Types - where there are 21 different ones for Thing 1, and 19 for Thing 2 - which is too much to commit to memory really. Empress should really have A3 wall-charts for those that you can order - as there is no way you can lay to memory all those different Parameter types - and it's even trickier for the EchoSystem - as that has no less than 42 algorithms. So when operating both of those - you always need to have the manual / handbook to hand really - an A3 wall chart for each would be really great though! Or possibly one that had both!
I've raised the Thing 1 + Thing 2 niggle with Steve a few times - mostly with regard to the EchoSystem - where I think a screen for Thing 1 and Thing 2 Parameter Types would really help - everything else can stays as it is - as it works beautifully and elegantly. Actually the screen would be good too for the Advanced / Global Settings which are currently somewhat tricky to render - and once more require reference to the manual.
A Perfect Mix of Fully Usable & Musical Algorithms
What has always recommended the Empress Reverb to me is its fantastic mix of algorithms - I don't believe any comparable device offers as great and as useful a collection of studio quality algorithms - and I kind of take it for granted that Reverb Workstations have all the Classic Flavours, some Ambient types, and EchoVerb. I'm also very specifically mad keen on Reverse, Lo-Fi and sort of Spooky / Eerie Reverbs, and some experimental ones too even - and the Empress Reverb has me covered for all of those!
- CLASSICS - Room, Hall, Plate. and Spring
- AMBIENT - Sparkle / Shimmer, Modulated, and Swells
- ECHOVERB - Delay + Reverb
- STEFAN MUST-HAVES! - Reverse, Lo-Fi, Ghost, & Beer (experimental!)
I typically consider Lo-Fi and Reverse Reverb as must-haves for me - but so few Reverb Workstations have those - and those that do - say the EHX Oceans 12 - that one's actually too small and fiddly - it looks great in photographs - all zoomed in - but in reality those tiny knobs and tiny legends aren't at all usable in situ. The form-factor of the Empress Reverb actually works much better. Besides my niggle with the Thing 1 and Thing 2 Parameters - I feel this is one of the most practical and usable control topologies.
So the 32 Studio Quality Algorithms are spread across 12 key types as follows - where the different LED Colours actually allow you to have up to 6 different Algorithms per type - while currently the most per type is 4!
So for Modulation, Ambient Swell and Delay + Reverb we have 4 apiece! In the LED Order - Blue > Green > Red > Yellow; and for Room we have only a single Algorithm - L.A. Studio (Blue). And we still have Aqua and Purple LED colours that can take us up to 6 Algorithms per type - which would mean a maximum onboard of 72 - meaning we have a while to go yet before we reach capacity!
Mode / Algorithm
- HALL - Concert Hall | Modern Hall
- PLATE - Classic Plate | Studio Plate
- SPRING - Bright Spring | Dark Spring | Overdriven Spring
- ROOM - L.A. Studio
- SPARKLE - Sparkle | Glummer
- MODULATION - Modulated | Chorused Reverb | Flanged Reverb | Tremolo Reverb
- AMBIENT SWELL - Triggered Swell | Gated Swell with Octave | Freezification | SEED
- DELAY + REVERB - Single Tap Delay | Blendable Delay | Filtered Feedback Delay | Skitter
- REVERSE - Reverse Reverb with Decay | Reverse and Stop | Reversed Delay
- GHOST - Ghost / Resonant | Casper
- LO-FI - 50's Radio | Warble
- BEER - Glitch | Gated Reverb | Destroyer Pad
For Thing 1 and Thing 2 I was looking into doing some sort of reference matrix - but that's really not feasibly as there are just too many different Parameter type - 21 for Thing 1, and 18 for Thing 2 - as follows :
THING 1 [21]
- MODULATION : Concert Hall | Casper
- PRE-DELAY TIME : Modern Hall | Classic Plate | Studio Plate | L.A. Studio | Reverse & Stop
- RATTLE DECAY : Bright Spring | Dark Spring
- RATTLE DECAY & LEVEL : Overdriven Spring
- SPARKLE LEVEL : Sparkle
- OCTAVE DOWN BLEND : Glummer
- MODULATION RATE : Modulated | Chorused Reverb | Flanged Reverb | Ghost / Resonant
- TREMOLO RATE : Tremolo Reverb
- SWELL TIME : Triggered Swell
- GATE ATTACK : Gated Swell with Octave
- TRANSITION SPEED : Freezification
- DIFFUSION : SEED | Skitter
- DELAY TIME : Single Tap Delay | Filtered Feedback Delay
- DELAY / REVERB BLEND : Blendable Delay
- REVERSE SWELL TIME : Reverse Reverb with Decay
- REVERSE DELAY LENGTH : Reversed Delay
- DELAY LEVEL : 50's Radio
- WARBLE : Warble
- GLITCH SPEED : Glitch
- GATE THRESHOLD : Gated Reverb
- ROBOT SCREAMS : Destroyer Pad
THING 2 [19]
- EARLY REFLECTION LEVEL : Concert Hall | Modern Hall | Studio Plate | L.A. Studio
- BRIGHT EARLY DECAY : Classic Plate
- RATTLE LEVEL : Bright Spring | Dark Spring
- BREAK-UP AMOUNT : Overdriven Spring
- SPARKLE LENGTH : Sparkle
- OCTAVE UP AMOUNT : Glummer
- MODULATION DEPTH : Modulated | Chorused Reverb | Flanged Reverb | Tremolo Reverb | Triggered Swell
- OCTAVE UP VOLUME : Gate Swell with Octave
- FROZEN SOUND LEVEL : Freezification
- SIZE : SEED | Skitter
- DELAY FEEDBACK : Single Tap Delay | Blendable Delay | Filtered Feedback Delay
- REVERSE MODULATION : Reverse Reverb with Decay
- DIFFUSION : Reverse & Stop | Casper
- REVERB AMOUNT : Reversed Delay
- RESONANCE / SPOOKINESS : Ghost / Resonant
- DIRTINESS : 50's Radio | Warble
- GLITCH TONE HPF vs LPF : Glitch
- GATE RELEASE TIME < 1 SEC : Gated Reverb
- PITCH SHIFT : Destroyer Pad
My day-to-day reverbs tend to be the 'Classics' with my current mainstay the Room / L.A. Studio - which works brilliantly for my needs - I also shuffle it around with Hall, Plate and Spring Reverbs on occasion.
I also love my trio of Ghost, Reverse Reverb, and Warble - and use the EchoVerb quartet occasionally - that could do with a proper Multi-Tap Space Echo style voicing really - while that can of course be found on the EchoSystem - so possibly no need to duplicate - apart from for those not deploying both of those simultaneously! In any case the Space Echo is a pretty much essential flavour for me - and is usually covered by whichever main delay pedal I deploy.
I do feel that the Empress Reverb has the best selection and mix of Reverb Algorithms - each one of those is fantastic sounding, musical and entirely usable - which is not always the case for others. I don't necessarily like all the Algorithms on all my Reverb Workstation - and some of those can be hard to dial in to get usable tones - but that is definitely not the case with the Empress Reverb.
The only reason I held out so long is that I was waiting and hoping for an EchoSystem-alike Dual / Parallel Path update - 6 years seems long enough to wait for that to happen. The Empress Reverb has been part of the pedal-chain for over a month now and it already feels as if it's always been there - it's really that easy to use - but then again I have extensive experience of deploying the very similar if not a little bit more complex EchoSystem.
Getting Started
This is the kind of pedal you're up and running with in no time - I had selected L.A. Studio and dialled it into my preferences in about 2 minutes flat - I liked it so much on first audition that it pretty much automatically became my mainstay Reverb flavour. Conversely I've had the Meris LVX for quite a bit longer - and I'm still trying to get fully up-to-speed on that. Like the EHX Oceans 12 - it looks great on paper - or on your computer screen - but in actual day-to-day use - it's not as intuitive or usable as you would think - and the screen real-estate is really way to small - with way too small legends for viewing from a standing vantage point - I've not quite put my finger on it yet - but it seems to be taking me a very long time to acclimatise to the LVX. I'm already itching to get the EchoSystem back in to pair with its Reverb sibling - but of course I need to let the process run its full course!
So the control interface - saving to and scrolling through presets could not be easier - the presets follows the same LED Colour Sequence as the Algorithms - actually with Additional Aqua, Purple and White LED variants - to 7 x 5 essentially! - I would have liked some footswitch combination which took me back to Manual mode - that and the meed to reference the manual for Thing 1 and Thing 2 are my only niggles really.
Note that the Empress Reverb is engineered to sound already amazing with all dials set to their mid-position / noon. So you're best off starting from that basis and then tweak the knobs in either direct as appropriate!
I went down a path of Dual / Parallel Reverbs for a while - Boss RV-500, Source Audio Ventris and EHX Oceans 12 - and had hoped that the Empress Reverb would go Dual Parallel eventually - but in truth - and despite my procrastination - I'm not sure I really need that functionality / feature set - there was a complexity aspect to much of that - and Reverbs mostly seem to be about that Pristine Studio Quality thing - where so many swear by the Chase Bliss CXM1978 - but for me that's just takes up a little too much real-estate - and only really gives me 3 core flavours - where too many of my most used and favourite algorithms are essentially missing from that offering.
The current mix of Empress Reverb Algorithms is just perfect for me - as if those had been created / crafted specially for me. And while I still quite like using the Amplitube X-Space for its various Sci-Fi tones - the Empress Reverb still has my overall favourite algorithms onboard.
Empress has done some cool Quick Start references which I thought I would share with you too - not that you really need them - as dialling things in really is a breeze. It's only the Advanced Settings, Thing 1 and Thing 2 which need tackling in some way when there is another major iteration of this pedal. Which is unlikely to happen for a very long time. In any case, and however it happened - I'm delighted to finally have the Empress Reverb onboard!
Key Features & Specs
- 32 Studio Quality Algorithms across 12 Algorithm Types
- Pristine Classic Sounds -Classic Hall, Plate, Spring and Room sounds that rival or surpass studio units costing many times more
- Ambient Sounds - A complete palette of tweakable ambient sounds
- Easy to use and fast to dial in - All the algorithm controls are on the pedal surface
- Tap Functions - many algorithms have infinite hold settings or the ability to tap in delay time
- Low Noise signal path - Features a signal to noise ratio of >104dB and maintains an analog dry path
- Up to 35 Presets - Settings can be saved to 35 presets
- 2 Preset Modes - Bank style or scrolling style preset modes
- True Bypass and Buffered Bypass - It can be configured to run with true bypass or buffered bypass if you want to hear trails
- Cabinet Simulator - 3 variations to choose from, perfect for recording, practicing or for gigs without an amp
- Output Transformer - Get hum-free operation when operating in stereo with two amps. Output 2 is isolated with a transformer to eliminate nasty ground loops
- High Quality Audio - 48kHz sampling, with 24 bit conversion and 32 bit internal processing
- Analog Dry Path - Dry signal is left untouched, and blended with the wet signal using VCA. (no zipper noise, hooray!)
- Unsurpassed Connectivity - The Universal Control Port allows you to connect an expression pedal, external tap switch, control voltage, external audio input and MIDI - all using a standard 1/4" jack!
- Advanced Configuration Menu - The Advanced configuration menu lets you configure how your reverb works
- 10 Minute Multitrack Looper onboard activated by pressing Scroll and Bypass together for >1 second
- Power Supply : 9V DC [-] 2.1mm, Current Draw 300mA
- Dimensions : 5.7" by 3.75" by 1.75" / 145mm x 95mm x 45mm
- Weight : 1.5lbs / 680g
- RRP : USD $449
The Empress Reverb is available for order direct from the Empress Effects Webstore and at leading dealers worldwide.
October 2022 Pedal-Chain Status Update
Demos
Dem 7
